You can learn how to deal with customers, as well as how to turn yourself into a superhero.

※I have only worked at small stores, so I cannot provide any experience regarding large stores.

Benefits: Not bad. Year-end bonuses, annual leave, and so on—everything that should be provided is provided.

Salary: If the supervisors (store managers and regional managers) can assign each employee to the work of the appropriate “department,” then the salary is not bad. Unfortunately, small stores do not have the same system as large stores. Everyone has to know how to handle groceries, fresh food, cashiering, receiving goods, secretarial work, and overnight shifts—in other words, one person is used as several people. If you encounter a store manager who makes such demands, all I can say is that the salary is far too low. If you encounter a normal store manager who lets you do the work of the department you are supposed to handle, then congratulations—you can continue doing this job.

Overtime pay: This also depends on the store manager. A normal store manager will ask you to clock in and out accurately, and everything you are entitled to will be provided. An abnormal store manager or regional manager will ask you to clock out and continue working overtime. If you do not work according to what they want, they will treat the unfinished work as overtime and scold you for having poor work efficiency.

Working environment: This is the most difficult aspect to comment on. When a store has sufficient staff, even the worst store manager can provide a good working environment. But when a store is understaffed, no matter how good the store manager is or how hard everyone works, the quality of the working environment will continue to decline...

The most regrettable thing about Carrefour is that supervisors like to cut labor costs to increase revenue figures. They also like to appoint people with insufficient evaluation and inadequate professional training as store managers. They require every employee to know how to do everything, yet do not require store managers to know how to do everything... If you report the matter to higher-ups, the supervisors will even investigate who submitted the report.

Other experience sharing: To be honest, it is already impossible to advance here. At a small store, aside from working as a regular employee, I do not recommend becoming a team leader, section manager, secretary, or store manager—unless you are confident that you can fight against those sinister and scheming supervisors. Otherwise, I strongly advise against seeking promotion. Even if you move up, your salary only increases by NT$1,000–3,000, while your responsibilities increase more than tenfold, and you have to shoulder the blame for anything that happens. Also, do not become some kind-hearted, passionate person who thinks that helping out a little is no big deal. Often, after you help once, supervisors will think that everything you do is something you are supposed to do, or they will think you are meddling, and they may even treat you as an enemy.

I simply could not stand being assigned to cover every department position. I could not finish my own duties, yet supervisors still insulted me, saying that not finishing the work meant I was inefficient. When I explained the reason, they scolded me for making excuses. When there was only one receiving employee and me at the store in the morning, I had to cover cashiering, fresh food, and groceries by myself. We were both overwhelmed, while the store manager came to work two hours later than us. At noon, we still had to let the store manager take a two-hour break first. We had to stand from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. before we could rest, and shortly after returning from our break, it was time to leave work... It was simply impossible to complete our assigned duties. Supervisor, are we really making excuses to cover up our inefficiency?

In short, if the store manager you apply to work under is a normal person, the job is doable. If not... I advise you to leave as soon as possible for the sake of your health.